12.1 Port Forwarding

An Apache Web server by default uses port 80 for non-secure connections and port 443 for secure connections. You are not required to use these ports, but certain applications might need them for connections. In this scenario, you can use the port forwarding mechanism.

The port forwarding ability is provided by the router that handles an organization’s incoming connections. For instance, a router can be configured to route all information in port 80443 to port 443 internally, which enables users to use port 80443 for iFolder service. This helps you segregate the information coming to ports 443 and 80443 so that application-based statistics can be developed.

The figure given below illustrates how the port forwarding mechanism can be used to forward requests from a restricted port (port 80) to an unrestricted port (8080).